FIFA Football 2005 is an older edition of the famous FIFA series of association football (soccer) games published by Electronic Arts. As a complete sports simulation game, it lets you manage your team and control the action as you play against your rivals. The objective is to take a team from the lower divisions and turn them into champions.

Just like all other games in the FIFA franchise, you'll control players and teams that actually exist in real life. Though you have to remember that the game was launched near the end of 2004, so you won't see any of the stars that rose to fame recently.

Interesting Improvements Over Previous Years

The 2005 version of FIFA Football features several improvements to earlier editions of the game. You now have access to a "create a player" mode, which lets you create a player of your own and customize him based on your preferences. The new 15-season career mode puts you in the role of a football team manager. You'll be responsible for managing all aspects of your team, including the players on your roster and the backroom staff like fitness coaches, scouts and team doctors. This mode is a bit more complex than others and takes some time to get used to, but can be very interesting for those who want to get involved with the inner workings of a football team.

The graphics and animations are excellent, as they look noticeably smoother than in the previous versions. The game's audio is much better too. You get to hear real crowd sounds as you play, over 40 different soundtracks of background music and commentary from John Motson and Ally McCoist. While the graphics are decent for a game that is over 12 years old, you can't expect the same level of realism as in more modern video games. Some of the player models have a slightly "blocky" appearance during gameplay. Also, when viewed from some angles, the stadium crowds may look flat like they were cardboard cutouts.

Simple and Fun to Play

FIFA Football includes first-touch gameplay, giving you more realistic game physics combined with greater control over players. At the same time, the controls are relatively simple to master, even for casual gamers. You just need to spend a few minutes going through the provided tutorials to understand how to execute various plays on the pitch.

There are four difficulty settings to choose from, allowing you to enjoy the game whether you just want to have some fun or are into a challenge. The game's AI is very good overall, but isn't perfect. You may notice computer-controlled rival players occasionally doing plays that make little sense, like having an almost certain chance of scoring, yet choosing to pass the ball to a teammate instead.

Finally, as this is an older game, it runs very well on less powerful PCs. It only requires a 700 MHz CPU, 256 MB of RAM and a 32 MB video card to work.

Pros

Features real teams and players.

Decent graphics and sounds for an older game.

Controls are easy to learn.

Works fine on older PCs.

Cons

Rival player AI is sometimes buggy.

Visuals not as realistic as in newer games.

FIFA Football is a soccer simulation game based around FIFA teams and players. It combines the realism of using famous players and teams with the ability to take control of those icons and command the game. The player has the ability to simulate historical games or just play exhibition matches and see how well it goes. Sports simulation games are nothing new, but the addition of FIFA engagement and realism is what sets FIFA Football apart.

The game was last updated in 2005. This means that modern simulations will likely surpass the game in most dimensions. The intervening nine years have brought many changes to the world of computing and games. In fact, FIFA Football may not even run on a Windows Vista computer. A previous version of Windows, like XP, might work, but Windows XP no longer has official support, so running it is a security risk.

Furthermore, the game is also missing the most recent nine years of football history. That includes the 2006, 2010, and 2014 World Cups, in addition to general changes to team lineups. For football fanatics who really want to get the best experience in simulating FIFA, other, more modern games would probably do a better job.

That is not to say that FIFA Football is a poorly made game. It has all the hallmarks of a game that had a lot of work put into it. Unfortunately, it is simply too old. It is hard enough to find a system capable of running it. Newer alternatives will be better by almost every metric. FIFA Football is free, but there exist free or cheap football simulators that are simply more modern than FIFA Football. Look elsewhere, FIFA fans.